The space agency announced Tuesday its selection of four astronauts for the Artemis III mission, marking another milestone in efforts to return humans to the lunar surface.
This crew announcement follows the successful Artemis II mission completed two months ago, which broke distance records previously held by Apollo 13 during its lunar flyby.
The selected team includes three astronauts from the space agency – Randy Bresnik, Frank Rubio, and Andre Douglas – along with the European Space Agency’s Luca Parmitano. Rather than traveling to the moon directly, these astronauts will remain in Earth’s orbit to conduct crucial practice sessions involving their Orion spacecraft and two different lunar landing vehicles.
NASA administrator Jared Isaacman offered his support to the crew, stating: “To the Artemis III crew, we wish you Godspeed on the journey ahead.”
Two major aerospace companies are competing to provide the lunar landing craft – Elon Musk’s SpaceX and Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin. The planned two-week demonstration mission is scheduled for 2027, though Blue Origin recently faced challenges when one of their large rockets exploded during ground testing in Florida. The explosion created a bright orange flash visible across the sky and caused vibrations felt in surrounding neighborhoods.
Despite this setback, NASA’s Jeremy Parsons expressed confidence in the program’s timeline, describing the incident as a valuable learning experience and maintaining that Blue Origin’s vehicle will be prepared on schedule.
The broader Artemis initiative represents the first attempt to place astronauts on the moon since missions ended in the 1970s. Recent program modifications announced by Isaacman are designed to accelerate progress similar to the original Apollo program approach, incorporating this Earth-orbit training phase before attempting an actual lunar landing in 2028.
Mission commander Bresnik expressed his crew’s dedication, saying: “We are certainly humbled as a crew to be able to be your crew that executes this Artemis III mission in space.”
Mission specialist Douglas shared his emotional response: “My brain — it is going a mile a minute right now. But my heart, it is so warm. It is so full.”
Earlier this year in May, the space agency distributed hundreds of millions in funding to four different companies, including Blue Origin, for developing various lunar equipment such as landing craft, exploration vehicles, and aerial drones intended for establishing a permanent moon base. Isaacman explained that this lunar facility would serve as preparation for eventual human missions to Mars.
